History of the Irish church, with the monasteries of each county, biographical notices of the Irish saints, prelates, and religious

Front matter

V.

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H I S T 0 K Y

Dedication

In respectfully dedicating this volume to the descendants and scattered children of the ever-faithful people of Ireland, and the heirs of her faith, language more appropriate than that of the Pontiff Benedict XIY., in his memorable brief to the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland cannot be adopted. “ Cherish in your memories,” says this illustrious Pontiff, “ St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, whom onr predecessor Celestine, sent to yoa of whose apostolic mission and preaching, such an abundant harvest has grown, that Ireland, before his time idolatrous, was suddenly called, and deservedly is, ‘ the Island of Saints.’ Cherish in your memories St. Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, who stood forth undaunted in every manner, prepared to convert the wolves into sheep ; to admonish in public ; to touch the chords of the heart. Cherish with yet more sincerity, St. Lawrence, Archbishop of Dublin, whom, born as he was, of royal blood, our predecessor, Alexander III., constituted his Legate Apostolic for Ireland, and whom Honorius III. alike our predecessor, canonized. But if yet more we were to exhort you to cherish in your memories, the very holy men Columbanus, Kylian, Virgil, Rumold, St. Gall and the many others, who, coming out of Ireland, carried the true faith over the provinces of the continent, or established it with the blood of their martyrdom. Suffice it to commend you to bear in memory the religion and the piety 'of those who have preceded you, and their solicitude for the duties of their station, which has established their everlasting glory and happiness.”

And, in fine, cherish the virtues of your fathers, their piety and reverence towards their pastors, their contempt of earthly goods, and though

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Preface

To every lover of religion and of the country which gave him and his ances* tors birth, lengthened prefatory observations are not necessary to recommend a work which furnishes him with the records of those holy and sanctified men, through whose labors the national church of Ireland has been nursed in its infancy, watched over as its growth advanced, invigorated in its adult state, adorned when in its splendor and when tried in the crucible, by whom the virginal faith of the Irish Church has been bequeathed, despite the efforts of persecution, pure and untainted as the virtue of Him who has redeemed us, by whom the ‘sacred deposit of faith has been defended with their blood — that blood giving to the evergreen tree of faith the wholesome growth and vigor of life.

The Cliurch of Ireland enjoying its season of calm during that early period of her existence, which may be called her Apostolic age, sainted missionaries went forth from her bosom to distant regions to raise the standard of the cross over the ruinous structures of error and superstition. Other countries engulfed in the horrors of deadly strife and warfare consequent on the dismemberment of the Homan Empire, religion and her handmaids, science and literature, found an asylum in the peaceful “ Isle of the West,” an isle into which the victorious arms of the Romans never penetrated. But a season of continuous calm and tranquillity was not destined for the church of Ireland. She, too, has had to endure tempestuous weather. The Danes, who were the enemies of progress, until the light of faith shot its beams over their intellects, ravaged the country and devastated the shrines and sanctuaries of religion. Yet the incursions of those savage barbarians and their ruthless attacks on everything sacred have not been without their advantages to religion, as many of the ecclesiastics of Ireland having sought safety in foreign countries, rendered essential service to the people who inhabited those regions, and who by their genius, the purity of their lives, the example of their virtues, created an oasis in the desert of error and corruption. Mysterious indeed are the ways of Providence, which even lead the pagan and the robber to the very door of the sanctuary, in order that his conversion be effected. Though the Danes were frequently repulsed, yet their plundering disposition prompted a return to the shores of Ireland, until finally overthrown, their conquest to the faith and to the kingdom of God was effectually accomplished. Nay, even Olaf Trygvesson the king of Denmark and the royal apostle of that nation became a Christian in Ireland, while probably a captive.

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PREFACE.

When the general conversion of those pirates took place after the battle of Clontarf, the national church of Ireland enjoyed a season of repose,, as if to give the zeal of Malachy an opportunity of restoring the sacred cause of religion and discipline. But much as the Church of Ireland endured, while the fury of the Danish ravages desolated the land, yet, it seems the cup of Irish misery had not been drained, and to a perfidious nation, not indeed through any peculiar merit that is visible in her people, has been reserved in accomplishment rather of the divine will for the propagation of that faith which has withstood the storms of eighteen centuries, that infliction wherewith the sins of our fathers may have been expiated, rendering at the same time the faith of Ireland more resplendent, causing it to increase in other regions, nay, expanding itself within the very bosom of that perfidious country, which has shaken ofl’ its sweet yoke, and returning, as does the illustrious stranger, forgetful of the injuries he has received, to revisit that land which has been enriched with the blood of her martyred sons.

The Irish Catholic, who has sought a home in this laud of the West, will be gratified to find the chain of the Episcopal succession of Ireland unbroken and uusevered from that Apostolic rock, which has protected the Irish Church in all her vicissitudes, and that apostolic bond, with the see of Peter, kept np in its integrity to the present hour ; many of the Irish Prelates enjoying their sees without Parliamentary pretenders to contest those ancient landmarks, which their predecessors possessed from the remotest ages of their national Church.

In glancing over the records of Irish Missionaries and the monastic establishments of the country, and of those heroic men, whose blood has been shed by English persecutors, while instructed by the simplicity of their lives, as well as charmed with that sublime faith whose -charity inspires such pious works, an idea will be conveyed to his mind of the fame and the splendor of the Irish church, as well as of that extensive robbery and spoliation which have been perpetrated in the name of religion ; of those sanguinary murders which Protestant England, in the fullness of her religious vagaries has committed, which have inebriated her with the blood of the saints, which have consigned to every woe the faithful but suffering people of Ireland, who have made a sacrifice of everything which this world values, property, liberty, country, nay life itself, rather than forego the advantages which faith pure and unsullied procures. Vagaries which have consigned them to the rapacity of the greediest adventurers that ever plundered a country, whose souls have been dead to every sentiment that ennobles man ; dead to every impulse but that of plunder and oppression ; which have consigned the people of Ireland to the horrors of protracted famine, lest an English exchequer, which Irish plunder and misrule have too long replenished, should be burdened with the relief of Irish distress, and finally which have doomed them to the emigrant-ship, as the only hope of the oppressed Catholics of Ireland, bringing with them no riches but the invaluable ones of faith, which has taught them patience under privation, and forgiveness under injuries and insults.

In all the conflicts of the Irish Church there existed natural obstacles to the success of those who attempted its extinction ; the mountain caverns and the marshes of the country provided the faithful followers of the ancient creed vu with secure retreats, in which they preserved the torch of faith. Hunted as was the missionary, still the glens and lonely valleys of Ireland resounded with the praises of the Most High ; for the lips of the proscribed servant of the altar poured forth irresistible strains in the native tongue, animating the people to bear with fortitude the misfortunes of their country, and pointing out instead of transitory things, tlie infinitely preferable treasures of eternal life. In the mysterious lanage of Ireland was found a barrier, which English heretics could not surmount ; unknown to the rich and to the Protestant, who preferred plunder, it was abandoned to the poor but faithful people by English reformers, as the only birthright of which they could not rob its ancient inheritors ; in that mysterious language, which is so pure, expressive, and the only one of Europe, in which there are no unmeaning words ; in that language, of whose original greatness English misrule has left us nothing but the wreck, the ancient faith found its safety and its stronghold.

While Protestantism is being consumed by its enormous wealth and with remorse, because it has revolted against a tender parent ; without hold, because of its impure contact with mammon, on even the affections of its own votaries — its ministers, because the revilers of the country and the ancient faith, the scorn and contempt of the public — writhing in the agony of death and its agony, as if prolonged by the unwilling Minister of Great Britian, whose fiat must soon put upon the monster the seal of extinction. Catholicity sends forth new germs, aspires to new destinies — ancient, and still ever new and beautiful, looks fresh and blooming in all the vigor of youthful life. The pastor of the ancient faith, with a virginal purity beaming in his countenance, is revered and respected, because his breast dilates with tenderness and compassion, offering consolation to the afflicted ; revered, because he devotes his days to the confessional, reconciling thoughtless man to the offended Deity ; because he takes long and painful journeys, when the soul of the dear one is to be prepared for its passage to that abode in which sorrow does not dwell ; because he overcomes the most serious obstacles, when the glory of God and the welfare of religion demand the exercise of energy and fortitude.

Though the virginal faith of Ireland has hitherto escaped contagion, the descendants of Irishmen should watch with the keen-eyedness of the American eagle the present struggle as well as the future, of Ireland, against the enemies of our faith ; for the maddened bigotry of England may lead on her statesmen to acts of violence and persecution. “ England dreads the dark cloud in the West.” Who can be indifferent to the land of the beautiful and the brave ? the land of the minstrel and the sage ; the home of all that is lovely and endearing ; the home of faith, virtue, hospitality. Our national Church is the bond of our national existence ; though the political arrangements of Ireland with the sister country have almost annihilated the political interests of the former, still that system has given to the church of Ireland an imperial character : for she is the mistress of religion in the British Empire, gives her an imperial voice, by which the bigotry of England is branded with universal reprobation, and secures to Ireland an imperial importance, through which Eiigland, tired and disgusted

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PJKEFACE.

with the husks of error and heresy, is fast returning, like unto the prodigal, to the tender embrace of that parent, who, though outraged and insulted, yet watched over that ungrateful country with apostolical solicitude.

In the selection of those materials, subjects have been chosen which are least known to the public, and through which a void in the Church History of Ireland is partially filled up. A complete history of the Irish Church is a work as yet to be done, for it is one that would require the labor of many years, vast research, as well as an outlay that would render it a perilous project to the undertaker, and place it beyond the reach of the public!

In placing these records before the public, the humble individual, who has compiled them, trusts that they will be instructive, as well as acceptable to those for whom they have been intended. If a glance at the map of Ireland points out the name of the spot, which is traced as the native place of him, whose memory is recalling the scenes of childhood and in contemplating it, if a momentary pleasure enraptures his imagination, how much more should his heart be gladdened when he has at hand a faithful record of those sacred spots, which were hallowed by the footsteps of saints and solitaries ; of those valleys and cloistered retreats, which re-echoed with the joyous sounds of the matin and vesper bell, calling their pious votaries to acts of praise and adoration ; of those ruined and desolated churches, from whose tombs the trumpet of the Archangel will one day summon the mouldered ashes of his fathers to life and judgment I

As it may be useful to the reader, a concise account of the great religious orders, which have been cherished by the church, is annexed.

The first and the oldest is the rule of St. Basil, which that saint instituted A. D., 369, according to Barbosa, or in 350 as Miranda asserts, Felix II. sitting in the chair of Peter. All the Greek and Oriental Monks adopted the rule of St. Basil, and among other saints who professed it, are reckoned Saints Ephraim, John Crysostom, Gregory Xazianzen, John Damascene, Jerome and others. In those early ages of the Church of God, St. Basil’s order became very renowned, and still continues to exist.

According to the testimony of Barbosa, the Carmelites observed the rule of St. Basil : but they now observe another, which Innocent III. confirmed, and ' which has been ratified and approved by Honorius III., A. D. IITI. St. Teresa has introduced a reform of the order, which was confirmed by Gregory XIII., A. D. 1580. The “Discalced” Carmelites, as those brethren are called, seceded from the other body, and were assigned a General of their own by Clement Till, in his Constitution of the 20th of September, 1595.

The second rule of religion is called that of St. Augustine, which was instituted by this great saint A. D. 390, in the reign of the Pontiff Syriacus. The rule, which St. Augustine compiled, was for the direction of the Community of Xuns, over which his sister presided. The appellation of Canon, was originally given to all such clergymen whose names were registered on the roll of a Church. In the lapse of time it was appropriated to those who lived in community, and inasmuch as they were bound to observe certain canons or rules relative to theii institution, they were generally called Canons Regular.

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IX

In the eleventh century, some communities of clergymen borrowed certain regulations from those of the aforesaid Community of Nuns, and having undergone some changes, they were adapted to communities of men, and those, who observed them, were known by the name of “ Canons Regular of St. Augustine.” These Canons were bound by vows, had the privilege of forming diocesan chapters, and were employed in the cure of souls.. Having been introduced into Ireland by the holy Imar of Armagh and by St. Malachy, they became the most numerous of the Irish religious establishments.

The Eremites of St. Augustine and the Canons Regular dispute among themselves regarding the priority of their institution.

Following the rule of St. Augustine, we find an order of Canons Regular, called of Premonstre,- a place in the forest of Coucy, which was abandoned by its proprietors, the Monks of St. Vincent at Laon, which was instituted by St. Norbert, Archbishop of Magdeburg, and afterwards Primate of Germany, in the Pontificate of Calixtus II., aud which was confirmed by Houorius IL, A. D. 1126.

The order of Preachers is also ranked under the rule of St. Augustine, which was instituted by St. Dominick about the year 1205, according to Barbosa, or in the year 1214 according to Miranda, in the Pontificate of Innocent III., confirmed and approved by Houorius III., A. D. 1216.

This order, one of the most celebrated in the Church, has rendered the most important services to religion.

Under the Augustinian rule is also found the order of St. Paul, the first hermit, instituted by the blessed Eusebius, Bishop of Strigouium in Hungary, A. D. 1215, in the Pontificate of Innocent, and confirmed by Cardinal Gentili, a Franciscan, Legate of Clement V. in Hungary, A. D. 1308. The order of Servites of Mary, which was established by seven noblemen of Florence, in the year 1233, Gregory IX. being Pontiff, and confirmed by Benedict XL, A. D. 1303. Tire order of the Blessed Virgin for the redemption of captives, which St. Peter Xolascus instituted, and which Gregory IX. confirmed A. D. 1230. The order of Crossbearers, instituted by five pious secular clergymen, was established over Germany, France and Belgium in the reign of Innocent IV., who also confirmed it, A. D. 1246. The order of the .Tesuati, under the patronage of St. Jerome, instituted by St. John Columbini, in the year 1354, under the Pontiff Innocent VI. ; approved by Martin V., A. D. 1468.

The order of Brigittines, instituted by St. Brigitta, widow, of Sweden, in the year 1368, and Pontificate of Urban V., who also confirmed her order. In the monasteries of this order, principally instituted for religious women, were also Friars to administer spiritual assistance, and who were subject to the abbess in temporals, but they were separated by an inviolable enclosure. The order of Theatincs, instituted by Peter Caraffa, Archbishop of Naples, and afterwards Paul IV., and by St. Cajetau, whose name they also bear, in the year 1524, Clement VIII. presiding over the universal fold. Besides these we find Congregations in Ireland under the patronage of St. Victor ; who was martyred at Marseilles by order of the Emperor Maximian, and to whose

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PEEFACE.

honor Monasteries were erected at Marseilles, near his tomb, in which his relics were preserved, as well as at Paris, to which was conveyed a part of his relics ; and also of St. Gilbert, who was born at Senipringham, in Lincolnshire, (Eng.) Pope Eugene III. approved the institute of St. Gilbert.

Some of the military orders are also ranged under the rule of St. Augustine, viz. : — The order of Malta, instituted at Jerusalem, by Gerard, the founder of the Ho.spital of St. John the Baptist, A. D. 1099, Paschal II. in the chair of Peter, and Honorius II. confirming it A. D. 1125. They were also called the Knights of Rhodes, because they captured that island from the Turks tke 20th of August, 1308, and there established themselves, retaining it as head-quarters for two hundred and fourteen years, until it was retaken by the Turks the 25th of December, 1522. On their expulsion from Rhodes, the Emperor Charles V. granted them the island of Malta.

The order of St. Mary of the Teutons or Teutonic, instituted under the patronage of the blessed Yirgiu by a German nobleman whose name is not recorded, in the year 1119, Calixtus II. being Pontiff ; its object was to receive and take care of Germans who visited Jerusalem as pilgrims. In the course of time the Teutonic Knights assumed the defensive against barbarians, who attacked the German pilgrims. Jerusalem having been stormed by the forces of the Sultan, who obliged them to depart with the rest of the Christian forces ; they settled at Ptolemais (now Acre), until that city was also captured by the Saracens. Pope Celestine III. confirmed the order A. D. 1192. The military orders of St. James in Portugal, and of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel, are also enumerated among the Augustinian families.

The third great rule of the religious life is the Benedictine, which Saint Benedict instituted about the year 500, in the Pontificate of Symmachus, according to Barbosa, or in 520, as Brugnoli and Miranda assert. Many congregations or families acknowledge the rule of St. Benedict, the oldest being the one at Cluni, in France ; a Monastery having been there erected by Saint Odo, a Benedictine monk about the year 900, Auastasius III. sitting in St. Peter’s chair, as is related by Barbosa, or in the year 913, according to Miranda.

The order of Camaldolese, so called from the valley Camaldula, near Arezzo, in Tuscany, was instituted by Saint Romuald, a Benedictine, about the year 961, John XIII. being Pontiff, Alexander II. confirming the order, A.D. 1072.

Under the aforesaid rule of St. Benedict, the celebrated Cistercian order flourished. It is so called from the valley Cistercium or Citeaux, an uninhabited forest in the Diocese of Chalons, (France,) and was instituted by St. Robert, abbot of Molesme, about the year 1099, in the Pontificate of Urban II. Perceiving a decline of discipline invade the institute, Robert selected some of the most fervent of his disciples and retired to Citeaux, and there laid the foundation of the Cistercian institute. Robert, recalled by the sovereign Pontiff at the desire of the monks of Molesme, Stephen was appointed to undertake the government of the Monastery at Citeaux, who with continual and fervent supplication to the Lord besought the extension and the increase of the new institute ; nor had the

PREFACE.

XI prayer been ofiFered in vain, as Bernard with three brothers, and relatives to the number of thirty, embraced the Cistercian order in the year 1113, and of his age the 22d. Hence the order is also called Bcrnardine from St. Bernard, whose sanctity and fame adorned the church of God.

The noble military orders of Calatrava, instituted by Saint Raymund, of Alcantara and Montreza, in Spain, and those of Christ and of Avis, in Portugal, were also subject to this rule, and adopted from it their rules of piety. Of the other military orders, the most famous was that of the Knights Templar, which was instituted by nine French knights, A. D. 1158, Gelasius II. being supreme Pastor.

The fourth great institute of the religious life is the Franciscan, of which Saint Francis, of Assisium, was the executor, as he received it immediately from God, a fact which he himself has acknowledged, and which has been attested by many Pontiffs, Nicholas III. among the number. The religion of St. Francis began in the year 1208, Innocent III. being Pontiff, and who confirmed it A. D. 1210, and who again, in the general council of Lateran, held in 1215, publicly declared that the Franciscan order had his approval ; but whereas at this period there existed no written instrument of its confirmation, the successor of Innocent, Honorias III., approved the religious order of St. Francis, A. D. 1223, and confirmed the rule thereof, consisting of twelve chapters.

In the history of the Franciscan institute, we find many branches of families, but all engrafted on the parent stock. Some are called “ Recollects” as in France and Belgium. Others “ Discalced,” of the more strict observance. Others “ Minors” of the regular observance. In the government of the entire body only one general sueceeds as the representative of St. Francis, who alone uses the seal of the order, and who alone is empowered to declare himself general of the whole order, in accordance with a special Bull to that effect, issued by the sovereign Pontiff Leo X.

The religious family of the Capuchins belongs to the Franciscan institute. Though they profess to the letter the rule of the order, still they constitute a distinct congregation, having also a general who is distinct from the one of the whole order, but who styles himself general of the Minors of the Capuchin Franciscans. There are other brethren of the order known as the “ Conventuals,” to distinguish them from those who lived in solitude, observing literally the rule of the executor of St. Francis. St. Anthony, of Padua, was a Conventual Franciscan.

The Nuns of St. Clare observe the rule of Saint Francis : but the weakness of their sex taken into account, the Pontiffs, Gregory XI., Innocent IV., Alexander IV. and Urban VI., allowed them to hold property in common, though they observe in the strictest manner the rule of the order, and keep within their cloisters. The Tertiaries, so called because they observe the third rule of St. Francis. The saint instituted three orders under three distinct constitutions.

The first was the order of Minors, who observe the rule which was dictated by the Redeemer, whose stigmas were impressed on the body of Saint Francis, an event which the Church celebrates in the divine office on the llih of September,

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The second was the one which he assigned to St. Clare.

The third was drawn up for males and females, married as well as those unencumbered with that sacred bond. Many Pontiffs have confirmed this rule, and have declared that this society was not merely a congregation, but properly and truly a religious order ; and have adorned it with many privileges and indulgences.

Besides those great religious families, there are others with peculiar constitutions, such as the celebrated Carthusian order, instituted by Saint Bruno, A. D. 1084, in the Pontificate of Gregory VIII. It was so called from Chartreuse, a desert place in the Diocese of Grenoble, which Hugh, Bishop of that see, assigned to Bruno and his companions. The most holy and the most useful to the church of God is the order of the Jesuits, which was founded by Saint Ignatius Loyola, and confirmed by Pope Paul III., A.D. 1540, introduced into Ireland by Robert Waucop, of Armagh, and finally the order of ^Minims, which Saint Francis de Paula instituted, A.D. 1436; and which Sixtus IT. confirmed, A. D. 1413.

The religious life is known as the contemplative, the active and the mixed. The first is principally engaged in the contemplation of things divine, according to the eulogy, which the Saviour pronounced in declaring that “ Mary had chosen the better part.” The second or the active embraces principally the works of mercy and charity, spiritual and corporal. The third or the mixed life in religion, partakes of the contemplative and the active, or rather includes both, comprising the works of charity and mercy, by teaching, hearing, confessing, preaching, contemplating and meditating.

The institution of Canons Regular embraced the contemplative and mixed life in religion to some degree. The Benedictines and Cistercians professed the contemplative and solitary life, by which they were bound to live within the enclosures of their convents.

The orders called Mendicant, as the Friar Preachers of St. Dominick, the Eremites of St. Augustine, the Minors of St. Francis and the Carmelites, adopting the mixed mode of religion, were bound to observe not only poverty in particular but also in common ; content solely with those things which they mendicated with humility, or were liberally bestowed or were acquired by labor and industry. Though such has been the original institute of the Mendicant orders with respect to poverty in common, yet different Pontiffs, as well as the Council of Trent (Session 25) have permitted them with the exception of the Franciscans, to possess in common immovable property.

USEFUL REFERENCES

Page.

Religious Corporations of the Church Preface, viii

Paschal Controversy 34, 5G, 572, 654, 842

Palliums and Synod of Kells . 38

Antiquity of Celibacy 41

Advantages of, &c 174, 834

Reverence of, &c 835

Heretics of Kilkenny 160

Question of the Veto 134

Corruption of English Ecclesiastics 174, 664

Synod of Cashell 195

Inauguration of an Irish King 636

Suppression of the Templars 366

Iconoclasm in Ireland — its Origin 388, 610

Punishment of Church Plunderers 567, 569, 581, 653

V'eneration of the Cross 591

Martyrs of Ireland 721

Martyrs, &.C., Treachery of Elizabeth 747

Enactments of English Persecutors 783, 795

Sympathy with the Catholics of Ireland 788

Rule of the Cromwellians 790

Apostates of the Irish Church 801

Doctrines of the Ancient Irish Church vindicated 812

Relics preserved in Dublin 422

Litany of St. Aengus 439

Numbers of Monks in some Monasteries 506

Sacred Wells of Ireland 556

I

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF IRELAND.